Carburetor headaches...

[jiminpa]

So I have a cart to get running that has not been run in a couple years. Drained the fuel, put a new filter on. Tried to start it, nothing unless I give it a shot of starting fluid. Check fuel pump, I have fuel to carb that pumps out good. I pull the carb and it is dry as a bone inside. The needle valve is tight and won't move. can't pull it out, looks like the pot metal corroded or something and it just won't budge. So I ordered a cheap $20 carb on Amazon. It showed up in 2 days and I happily installed it, feeling ready for a test ride. It starts right up, sounds good for about 10 seconds and quits. After some fooling around I figure out that the needle valve is not shutting off the fuel when the bowl is full. In fact, It was running over so much that it was pouring out the carb when I had the air intake tube off. I open it up and it has this plastic needle and seat. can't figure out why it was not sealing or closing. no adjustment on float. Send it back, order another from a different Amazon supplier and go back to the original to see if I could do anything with it. Not much luck, got the needle out but it was not sliding easy in the hole. not going to work. So I waited on the second new carb. Installed the second new carb, and it's barely runs. It too is running way rich, but, not like the first one that was running out of the carb when the cart was shut off. On the second one I discovered that the high speed adjustment was opened 6 turns! Seems like it should be 1.5 turns if I remember. Turned it back to 1.5. Still spitting gas out the carb a little. If I unhook the fuel line and start it, it will clear up and run good for a few seconds while it uses up the fuel in the bowl. So I am almost thinking this thing has a needle valve issue too. Do they all have plastic valve and seat now? I used to rebuild carbs on cars back in the day, never imagined anyone would put a plastic needle and seat in a carb. Is this the only way they do it now days on these carts? Where can I get a good carb without spending hundreds of dollars? Really not very happy with this situation. Is there any fixing these plastic valves?

[CP241]

I will only buy and use OEM carbs. I only recommend others do the same. It's worth the money to know you're getting a good part. The chinese junk you get from amazon or Ebay are exactly that... junk.

What year is your cart? Is it a FE290 or FE350?

[jiminpa]

It's a '92 FE290. Unfortunately, my experience with automotive parts when buying older stuff is you get alot of the same Chinese crap from expensive OEM suppliers that you get when you buy the cheap stuff on Amazon or Ebay. Does anyone sell a rebuild kit that includes a brass needle valve and seat and a float with an adjustable tab? That is what I would really like.

[CP241]

I believe that same FE290 is still being manufactured today, with little if any changes since 1992. It's a dead reliable engine, used in many, many applications over the years. why fix what's not broken

I just redid the carb in my FE350 and it had a plastic non-adjustable float. I have 2 of them, one is a 1998 and one is a 2013 mfr date. Both carbs are exactly the same. But the needle valve is the silver with a rubber tip in one, and I think the older one may have been plastic? I'd have to go out and look. But no telling what has happened over the years of ownership, previous owners rebuilding/replacing. As long as it says "KEIHIN" on the side and has the other proprietary Keihin markings on everything, I'm good.

The Kawasaki and Keihin are both Japanese companies. No chinese crap here! The only way to be 100% sure you get a genuine OEM part is to buy through a dealer. You can contact david hicks at revolution golf cars (click the site sponsors link in the blue bar above) he sells all the OEM club car stuff. I'd probably sell my extra FE290 carb, but I'd want to clean it first and make sure it's good before doing that. The motor it came from ran decent, but had a huge hole in the back of the block so I just replaced the motor and never bothered to look at or clean the carb. Just removed it and set it aside. I need to get another gallon of carb cleaner for my ultrasonic cleaner before I clean anything else...

[jiminpa]

I just checked, I have an old Keihin carb that has been sitting on the shelf for 10 years. It has a metal seat and metal needle with a rubber tip. It's a mess inside, but, I may just try to clean it up and give it a try. There really isn't much to these little things.

[Fairtax4me]

All of the DS carbs I've had apart have a plastic float, needle, and sleeve that the needle fits in. The plastic holds up fine and even doesn't seem to be bothered by ethanol.

The chinese $25 carbs on ebay/amazon are hit or miss, I'd call them 50/50 good/bad. I prefer to clean up an original carb if I can. Usually they are not that bad off, but if yours has been sitting with water in it or old fuel for long enough it may need some extra elbow grease to get it cleaned up.

Does your original have a metal needle and sleeve? Is there a manufacturer name on the side of that carb? All the ones I've dealt with are Keihin and they all have plastic needles. I have one older one that might be a Mikuni, and those are also good quality OE carbs.
The original metal housing fuel pumps on these are Mikuni and they last forever if you don't run ethanol fuel.

[jiminpa]

the replacement had a plastic needle and seat and float. just looks like crap and ran over as soon as the bowl got full. did not shut off. Cleaning up an old one now...

[DannyAbear]

What kind of fuel pump are you using?

[jiminpa]

will have to check on the fuel pump tomorrow. I did replace it with an aftermarket during the first part of this issue when the carb was running over. no difference.

[jiminpa]

So bottom line on this issue, found an old OEM carb, took it apart, put it in an ultrasonic cleaner for about 30 minutes total, new gasket, works perfect. Chinese junk carbs were the problem all along.